FilmNation feeling ‘Dark & Grimm’

Company acquires feature rights to children's book

FilmNation Entertainment has acquired feature rights to Adam Gidwitz’s children’s book of stories “A Tale Dark and Grimm,” the company announced Thursday at the Toronto Film Festival.

FilmNation will partner with Marissa McMahon of Kamala Films to finance the development of a live-action feature and produce alongside FilmNation Entertainment’s Aaron Ryder and Karen Lunder.

Jon Gunn (“Mercy Streets,” “My Date With Drew”) and John W. Mann (“Mercy Streets”) have been tapped to adapt the screenplay.

In the book, Hansel and Gretel walk out of their own story and into eight other tales inspired by those penned by the Brothers Grimm.

Mann and Gunn are working with Universal on an updated feature based on “The Nutcracker” with Chernin Entertainment producing, as well as an original animated feature for Skydance. They have penned scripts for “Boo U” at DreamWorks and “Magic 8 Ball” for Paramount.

Kamala is in development on the screen adaptations of Jeff Guinn’s “Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde” and Nancy Goldstone’s “The Maid and the Queen: The Secret History of Joan of Arc” with Furst Films.